Deep-fried dough with icing sugar: What's not to love in a crostoli? (With video)

Eighty-one year-old Adelide LaPosta has been making crostoli pastries since she was seven and she guards no secrets in the recipe for the traditional Italian treat.

“No. No. No. I give to everybody. I want some to learn,” LaPosta said Thursday on day two of making about 10,000 crostoli pastries in the basement kitchen of St. Angela Merici hall.

She is the one who is said to have the master touch with the delicate deep-fried dough and icing sugar treat many call angel wings in English.

But Thursday she had no time to pass on details as 14 people in an angel wing assembly line flitted about the kitchen making about 500 platefuls of crostoli pastries for this weekend’s St. Angela Merici festival.

LaPosta doesn’t get many takers for the recipe for the same reason people will line up on the weekend to buy plates of angel wings: “Too much work,” she said by mid morning.

There seems to be many different takes on crostoli, with recipes passed down through generations. LaPosta learned from her mother in Sora, Italy, east of Rome, and remembers eating the traditional pastries at Easter and Christmas.

On her own it would take LaPosta more than half a day to make a dozen angel wings.

For 10,000 or so, the church volunteers spent about six hours Wednesday making the dough and were at the church hall by 8 a.m. Thursday rolling it out until it was thin and cutting it into little rectangular strips.

Julia Bavetta, who at 11 was by far the youngest crostoli maker Thursday, carefully folded the strips of dough through a slit cut in the middle to give them the angel wing look.

Then they are deep fried. Bavetta could eat half a plate, she said in front of a mini mountain of angel wings waiting for an icing sugar shower.

Her nonna Maria Muglia said everyone seems to love them. “This is like popcorn. The more you eat it, the more you want to eat it.”

Last year the church sold out by Sunday afternoon. The pastries go for $5 a plate as a church fundraiser.

Festival chairman Frank Gualtieri bought about 40 kilograms of flour for the two-day crostoli-making event that appeared, in part, fuelled by espresso. Gualtieri is more guarded with the ingredients, which include eggs, oil, vanilla extract, lemons and icing sugar.

“The ingredient that I didn’t tell you? Love. It’s all made with love, love for their culture, upbringing and church.”

Gualtieri said you don’t have to be Italian to come to the 27th annual St. Angela Merici festival Saturday and Sunday at Louis Avenue and Erie Street. The festival can attract more than 1,000 people.

There is Italian food in the hall and an outdoor tent beginning at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. The opening ceremonies begin at 6 p.m. with the Caboto Club Youth Choir followed by the Holy Names High School jazz band at 6:30 p.m. and more musical entertainment at 8 p.m. including a tribute to Elvis.

On Sunday, Italian food service in the hall starts at 12:30 p.m. and at 4:30 p.m. in the outdoor tent. At 1 p.m. Sunday there will be bouncy castles, face painting and balloons and the Emerald Isle Dance Group will perform at 1:30 p.m. A variety of activities including tug-of-war, a balloon toss, and watermelon and pasta eating contests will be held in the afternoon.

The highlight of the festival for many is a mass at 7:30 p.m. which is followed by a candlelight procession around the neighbourhood. Musical entertainment follows at 9 p.m.

St. Angela Church Crostoli Club members Silvana Minaudo, left, and Adelide LaPosta add icing sugar to fresh crostoli, the popular Italian pastry made of flour and eggs at St. Angela Church Hall Thursday August 7, 2014. (NICK BRANCACCIO/The Windsor Star)

St. Angela Church Crostoli Club member Catarina Marra, left, adds to a tablefull of fresh crostoli, the popular Italian pastry made of flour and eggs and topped with icing sugar at St. Angela Church Hall Thursday August 7, 2014. (NICK BRANCACCIO/The Windsor Star)

St. Angela Church Crostoli Club member Donato Boccarossa carries fresh crostoli dough during the process of cooking the Italian pastry made of flour and eggs and topped with icing sugar at St. Angela Church Hall Thursday August 7, 2014. (NICK BRANCACCIO/The Windsor Star)

St. Angela Church Crostoli Club members Carolina Farima, left, Catarina Marra and Maria Muglia carefully cook crostoli, the popular Italian pastry made of flour and eggs and topped with icing sugar at St. Angela Church Hall Thursday August 7, 2014. (NICK BRANCACCIO/The Windsor Star)

St. Angela Church Crostoli Club member Josephina German adds icing sugar to fresh crostoli, the traditional Italian pastry made of flour and eggs at St. Angela Church Hall Thursday August 7, 2014. (NICK BRANCACCIO/The Windsor Star)

St. Angela Church Crostoli Club members prepare crostoli, the popular Italian pastry made of flour and eggs and topped with icing sugar at St. Angela Church Hall Thursday August 7, 2014. (NICK BRANCACCIO/The Windsor Star)

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